Glass Review (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Story

• Very decisive
• One hand: Decent & self-contained follow-up to both Split and Unbreakable in the form of an “Event Film”
• Other hand: The fact that it’s an “Event Film” hinders it from being as impactful as Unbreakable and Split. Well, at least Unbreakable.
• There was a whole story that was easy to follow and analyze in many different ways. But because of the ensemble and how time in the film was divided among all of them, there wasn’t enough of it or pacing with the characters we care about to make the story pop, or with the characters that M. Night clearly wanted us to care about

Characters

• The movie tried to get me to care about David, especially near the beginning. Despite his character being pretty much the same as it was in Unbreakable, there was effort. We saw a spark of life in him that we didn’t see in Unbreakable once he was about his hero work. Then it lessened as time went on and became more of a plot device than a character. Depending on the narrative POV you have, the change makes sense, but still a tad bit disappointing.
• Kevin and the Horde had the most presence and development in this film considering this is straight off the back of Split, but the constant use of the Beast started to feel a bit stale considering the overall plot. Seeing him turn into The Beast in Split was in itself an experience, especially since you saw what abilities came with it, because it only happened twice, and at pinnacle moments that made it eerie and unsettling. Because of the setting in Glass, seeing the transformation as if it were Bruce Banner Hulking out on the regular loses its umph
• The use of Mr. Glass was smart and I appreciate how it was done, but this was not his movie as the title implies. If anything, this was Kevin’s movie, with David and Elijah guest-starring. If any character was treated properly from being carried over from Unbreakable, the second character would be Mr. Glass with the first character being David’s son Joseph, who unfortunately suffers from “M Night really wants us to care about this character instead of the headliners” syndrome. 

Likes

• The use of deleted/extended scenes from Unbreakable as flashback scenes for the characters
• The main twist I thought was nicely thought out (even if it wasn’t M Night’s plan from the getgo), and actually treats this film as the final installment of a trilogy by working in the original plot point in Unbreakable to the narrative in Glass
• The use of colors and cinematography was nice in certain portions of the film, such as David’s first fight with the Beast and the three-way interview in the asylum

Dislikes

• The music was too Split-oriented as opposed to a preferred combination of West Dylan Thordson and James Newton Howard. Just proved moreso that M. Night was riding the Split train after its success.
• Despite it having a decent ending to close out this trilogy of movies, they leave it open-ended enough to entertain the idea of more sequels and spinoffs, which I don’t think I want

Overall

• Glass is a movie that’s hard to decipher if you liked it or not depending how much you enjoy Unbreakable and/or Glass
• It has an overall message that can be interpreted multiple more ways than what M Night may have intended
• And depending on how you enjoyed the feel and pacing and use of characters in both Unbreakable or Split, you may or may not enjoy how this plays out
• If you’re going to see this in theaters, catch a matinee. If you’re gonna wait for home release, it’s a rental for sure